How do car manufacturers make engine power better?

FIAT PANDA 2012

There are many different ways car manufacturers can make engines perform better. Air manipulation is one of them: Cooling the incoming air or letting it coming in and out more easily definitively increases the engine power.

There are many different ways car manufacturers can make engines perform better. Air manipulation is one of them: Cooling the incoming air or letting it coming in and out more easily definitively increases the engine power.

The air contained in cylinders is cyclically compressed. But compressing a gas activates its molecules, increasing then its heat. Unfortunately, hot air expands less than cool one when combustion takes place within the cylinder. The hotter the air is, the harder it will expend, lowing down then the power of the engine. So, car manufacturers use intercoolers with supercharged or turbocharged engines. These specific radiators cool the compressed air that passes through them before entering the cylinder. This way the compressed air better expand in the cylinder at combustion time which provides more power.

Air resistance is also a limiting factor of the power of an engine. Due to the resistance they oppose to the cyclic movement of the piston in each cylinder, the in coming air resistance as well as the exiting exhaust one can both rob engine of some power.

To let air coming in more easily in cylinders, engine manufacturers put two intake valves within each of them. Since air filters are definitively needed to protect the engine from dust, they are sometimes enlarged also to improve the in coming air flow. To let the exhaust exiting more easily from cylinders, the exhaust valve of each cylinder can be doubled by adding a second valve to it. This is called “dual exhaust”.

Furthermore, to solve the back-pressure issues that may be caused by too small exhaust pipes for instance, engine manufacturers use bigger tail pipes.

So, as may be guessed, a four cylinders and sixteen
valves car not only means that the engine embeds two intake valves and dual exhaust on each of its cylinder. It also means that this car really gets enhanced power engine.

Source: OnlineCarParts.co.uk
 

 

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